If there’s something I enjoy, it’s ridiculous fan theories. They are enjoyable to look at and to pick apart, but they are even more enjoyable to make. Who doesn’t love a good fan theory? Well, once ridiculous fan theory I came up with involves Guardians Of The Galaxy. This 2014 movie has already become beloved by so many people despite being based off a rather obscure comic. And one of the biggest mysteries in the film is the identity of Peter Quill / Starlord’s father.
Before I get into the nitty-gritty of this theory, let me say that this is all just speculation. This being a theory does not make it canon and I would never try to force a theory to be the end-all be-all for the truth behind any work of fiction. The story will always be in the hands of those who created it and I can fully respect it. Anyway, let’s discuss the topic of Starlord’s father indepth. Just a warning, there will be lots of SPOILERS for the entire film.
The story of the film centers around Starlord, a space-faring bounty hunter who is both a jerk and a hero at the same time. The film discusses his origin, with him being just an ordinary earth-child by the name of Peter Quill. His mother dies of cancer, causing him to flee the hospital in disgust. He is then captured by aliens from a faraway land and spirited away to the depths of space. That’s where the movie begins as it chronicles the rise of Peter Quill and how he was able to overcome his mother’s death and trust others. Keeping all that in mind, one of the biggest mysteries surrounding Quill is his father. Who is he? Why was he not in Peter’s life? What alien species is he? That’s right, I said species. At the end of the film, Peter is told he is only half-human and that the other half belongs to an unknown alien species. He is told this by the Xandarians, beings belonging to the planet of Xandar.
According to Yondu, Starlord’s father paid Yondu to have him delivered halfway across the galaxy to him. However, Yondu disobeyed and took the son in as his own. Thus, Yondu raised the boy as a member of his crew. Throughout the movie, we get small bits of info surrounding the identity of Peter’s father but we are never told who it is. So, who could it be? Well, a lot of people point to it being The Collector. His mother described Peter’s father as being “an angel bathed in light” and The Collector possesses an angelic appearance. This has led to the theory that The Collector is Peter’s father.
Not only does he possess an angelic appearance, he is also from an unknown ancient race. This has led many to speculate that The Collector was Starlord’s father. The theory states that The Collector fell in love with a human woman, impregnated her, and infected her with cancer so that she may be alive long enough to raise Starlord. Once she was dead, Starlord would be taken in and brought to him to be part of his collection. Except, this theory has too many holes. For one thing, this seemed way too obvious. I doubt the film would lead us to believe someone like The Collector is Quill’s father. This would especially be odd in a film where the main characters aren’t what they appear to be on first sight. For example, you look at Rocket and think he’s an angry gun-toting rodent. The thing about Rocket is that he doesn’t who he is, where he came from and constantly saddened by those who judge him and call him a little monster. And the other Guardians are like that too, you can’t just group them into neat little categories.
So, for a film where first impressions aren’t everything, why would The Collector be made to be the obvious choice? Impregnating a woman just to create some kind of half-breed seems to be a little too out of the way for The Collector. If the Collector is an Elder like he was in the comics, he’d have better things to do with his time. So, that begs the question, who is the father? I believe it to be Ronan. Now I know what you are thinking, “That’s insane! Ronan is the villain and isn’t like Starlord in any way!” Well, let’s back up a bit here. In the film, there is an Easter Egg that got everyone a little confused.
During the film, when Ronan’s ship is shown, you’ll find a bunch of random numbers meant to be the ship’s location in space. Substituting letters for numbers you get the message “This is Mom’s cancer.” Now, everyone believes this to mean that Ronan is the threat to everything her mother held dear when she was alive. In a way, Ronan is akin to her cancer except on a galaxy-wide scale. Except, cancer has a different meaning when you’re discussing space and another when you are discussing Marvel in particular. You see, in the comics about 4 years prior to the release of the film a special mini-series was released that revolved around a war with a universe known as the “Cancerverse”. It’s a universe in which death is itself is extinct. Does the Cancerverse exist in the Cinematic Universe? I’m not entirely sure, since it’s never been brought up. But I thought I’d mention this as it was very interesting when I found it. What makes it especially interesting is that Ronan participated in this war.
And that’s just one meaning of Cancer. You see, there’s also a constellation known as “Cancer”. Cancer is known as the crab constellation and is one of the twelve signs of the zodiac. Even though it’s likely that Ronan’s ship is nowhere near the Cancer constellation, it could still be possible that the word cancer could mean something else. For all intensive purposes let’s substitute the meanings of the word. Instead of “This is mom’s cancer” we now have “This is mom’s constellation”. Now, that sentence may not make a whole lot of sense but think about it this way: If Quill’s mom was looking up to the stars and looking for her husband she would only see the stars in the sky. To her, her husband out in the great unending galaxy would be nothing but a star, a part of a greater constellation. In essence, Quill’s father is a constellation to both Quill and his mother.
I know it is a bit of stretch, yet the movie does have some hints that may prove this as true. For one thing, Quill’s mother referred to young Peter as “Starlord”. Now, you’d think this is just a silly nickname, right? Except, that’s kind of a weird nickname to give a child. Starking or Starprince would work better, why Starlord? You’re essentially calling your kid a space god at this point! Except, what if the reason she was calling Quill that was because Quill’s father was actually a Starlord? If his father was Ronan, than this would make a whole lot more sense.
Now I know what you are thinking: How the heck is Ronan an “Angel bathed in light”? Well, he isn’t a traditional angel. You see, Ronan possesses blue skin, black tattoos and possess dark-black clothing. All of those are indicative of a villain, or perhaps a “Fallen Angel”. While it’s entirely possible that Starlord’s mother was referring to the traditional angel, it could be that she was actually referring to a fallen angel. And while Ronan isn’t “bathed in light” in the traditional sense, he is bathed in it figuratively. The light he is bathed in is the one that he has been seeking: The light of the Infinity Stones. That is that light that Ronan is bathed in, the light that he greatly seeks.
And before you think that’s stretching it, I reccomend you watch Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Spoilers for those of you who haven’t seen it, but Ultron the villain of the film obtains the yellow Infinity Gem and places it into a robot vessel. Ultron wishes to lord over humanity in this robotic body, which he dubs as “The Vision”. He essentially wants to rule over the universe as god or an angel and Vision did indeed have an ethereal quality to him. Part of what makes Vision who he is stems from that fact that he is a melding of Jarvis’ AI with Vision’s tech. But also, most of his power stems from the Infinity Gem emblazoned in his forehead. In a way, Vision is an angel as he stands for everything the represents life. If we look at things from that perspective, than Ronan kind of seems like an opposite to Vision. Both had obtained the power of an infinity gem, but one wants to create death while the other defends life.
Something else to note is that Ronan has some strange similarities to Starlord. The biggest one being that both Ronan and Starlord were able to hold the infinity gem. During the movie, Ronan grabbed an infinity gem with his bare hands and proceeded to melt it onto his hammer. Likewise, Starlord was able to hold the gem with his bare hand, but had to discharge the energy by holding hands with his friends. In a way, both of them were using “Conduits”. Ronan’s conduit was his hammer, which allowed him to focus the focus the power of the stone through his weapon. And Starlord’s conduit was his friends, allowing him to discharge the energy and use it to annihilate Ronan once and for all
Ronan and Starlord also have some commonalities when it comes to their personalities. Both Ronan and Starlord can be rather cocky and arrogant at times. And both characters have a nasty habit of taking things that don’t belong to them. Both of them seeked to obtain the purple infinity gem, although it was for entirely different reasons. So, piecing things together, here is what I think happened: Ronan met Quill’s mother and on a whim decided to fall in love with her so she may bare a child. However, Ronan’s own ambitions drew him away from the planet which is why he left.
Now, you’re probably thinking that a lot of the theory is a bit of a stretch. Most theories tend to be this way and yes I do admit it’s a bit ridiculous. The thing about the theory though is that if it proves to be true, it would give Ronan more of a backstory. Ronan should have been a more developed villain, especially when you consider how well-developed the primary protagonists were.
Again, I assure that this is all a theory. You don’t have to take it on as your own personal canon if you don’t want to. Besides, it is more than likely Starlord’s father will turn out to be someone else. He could be Thanos, The Collector, or heck even Howard The Duck! We don’t know, because it hasn’t been revealed. It’s more likely that Quill’s actual father will be a character with more of a history or backstory.
Some people may think of writing fan-theories as pointless exercise, but that’s not really the case. Because at one point or another, you’ve thought up a fan theory. You have believed something to be not as it seems in a particular franchise and there is nothing wrong with that. Theories, whether right or wrong are something that will always be interesting. That’s because theories are made by the people who enjoy this material, who think about the mythology and who like to just write what they believe to be wrong. Sure, there are a lot of bad fan-theories out there and there always will be. However, that doesn’t mean that fan-theories are a bad thing. It’s my belief that a concept doesn’t just have to end at what the writer’s intended. That is just a theory about theories however. Whether my theory proves to be true or wrong, I’ll still accept whoever they deem to be Quill’s father. This is because I enjoy Marvel and Guardians Of The Galaxy. I look forward to whatever Marvel brings next to this venerable franchise.
Syrup With A Side Of Writing 